Dilip Mahalanabis (1934–2022) was an Indian pediatrician, scientist and public health expert. He is known for manufacturing Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS) for the treatment of diarrhea. He died in 2022 at the age of 87 after suffering from a lung infection.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Dilip Mahalanabis was born on Monday, 12 November 1934 (age 87 at death) in Kishoreganj, Bengal Province, British India (now Dhaka Division, Bangladesh). Their zodiac sign is Scorpio. In 1958, he completed his graduation as a pediatrician at Calcutta Medical College, Kolkata. She did a Diploma in Child Health (DCH) from the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK. Later, he earned Membership of the Royal College of Physicians of the United Kingdom (MRCP(UK)), which is a postgraduate medical diploma in the UK. He created history by becoming the first Indian to be appointed as the Registrar of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London.
Dilip Mahalanbis at a young age
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 8″
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye colour: black
Family
parents and siblings
There is not much information about his parents and siblings.
Wife
He was married to Jayanti Mahalanabis, who died on 9 July 2021.
Dilip Mahalanibis with Jayanti Mahalanibis
livelihood
Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT)
During the 1960s, he worked at the Johns Hopkins University International Center for Medical Research and Training in Kolkata, focusing his research efforts on oral rehydration therapy. During the Bangladesh War of Independence in 1971, a significant refugee crisis emerged, with many refugees seeking asylum in India. Cholera became a major cause of death among these refugees, with a high case fatality rate (CFR) of 30%. To assist government and non-government organizations in dealing with this crisis, JH-CMRT sent its professional and paramedical staff to the refugee camps. Dilip Mahalanbis and his team worked on the border of India and East Pakistan and set up their treatment center in Bongaon to provide essential medical care. Based on the research available at the time, Mahalanabis and his team believed that only oral rehydration therapy could effectively prevent fatal dehydration in the early stages of cholera infection. He created an oral rehydration solution (ORS) that contained 22 grams of glucose, 3.5 grams of sodium chloride and 2.5 grams of sodium hydrogen carbonate per liter of water and served it to patients in cups. Over 8 weeks, they treated 3700 patients, and only 135 died (3.6% mortality), a significant decline from the earlier 30% rate. In a different tent, the rate was less than 1%. At the time, Dr. Dhiman Barua, head of WHO’s bacterial diseases unit, supported Dilip’s treatment at WHO and UNICEF after meeting him at his camp in Bongaon; However, other scientists were skeptical about his discovery. Journals rejected his paper, so it took another 7 years for ORT (Oral Rehydration Therapy) to be accepted. He did not patent his ORS formula.
Other work
From 1975 to 1979, he served in WHO’s cholera unit in Afghanistan, Egypt and Yemen. In the 1980s he helped WHO by advising on diseases caused by bacteria. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was appointed as a medical officer in the WHO Diarrheal Disease Control Programme. In 1990, he became a Clinical Research Officer at the International Center for Diarrheal Disease Research (ICDDR,B) in Bangladesh. Later, he was promoted to Director of Clinical Research in ICDDR. In 2004, he and Dr. Nathaniel Pierce were collaborating on an improved version of ORS. This improved version is intended to be more effective in preventing dehydration caused by different types of diarrhea. It also had the ability to reduce the amount of stool produced.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- 1994: Elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- 2002: First Pollin Award in Pediatric Research
- 2006: Prince Mahidol Award
- 2023: Padma Vibhushan (posthumously)
Death
On 16 October 2022, he died after suffering from a lung infection and other age-related ailments at a private hospital in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Facts/General Knowledge
- He is considered the father of ORS.
- In August 2017, he donated his lifetime savings of Rs 1 crore to the Child Health Institute in Kolkata.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn